Auckland Transport under pressure over Scott Point road closure plan

Scott Rd in Scott Point, Auckland, will be reduced to one lane for two months while roadworks take place. Photo / Calvin Samuel, RNZ

By Calvin Samuel of RNZ

Residents in one of the country’s fastest growing suburbs say they are being held hostage to roadworks as their only access road is about to be reduced to one lane for at least a month.

Access to Scott Point in Auckland has been an ongoing issue, residents say, and now they are worried about the effects of a stop-and-go system during peak hours from Monday.

It’s part of the greater Hobsonville area, which Auckland Council expects to grow rapidly, with 20,000 new residents projected to be living in the area over the next few years.

A contractor wants to reduce Scott Rd to one lane while it carries out upgrades. The work includes resurfacing, drainage improvements, additional footpaths, bike lanes and intersection upgrades.

Jason Barclay was among Scott Point residents who recently staged a protest. Photo / Calvin Samuel, RNZ

Those living there are concerned the roadworks will severely affect their daily travel and restrict access for emergency services.

The road also borders Scott Point Primary School, adding increased traffic during school drop-off and pick-up times.

Dean and Anne Lorimer moved to Scott Point about seven years ago, when it was home to 123 people.

Since then, the area has grown with thousands of houses, a school with 900-odd pupils and a retirement village built.

An estimated 4050 people resided in the waterfront community in 2024.

“If you’re ever here at school pick-up or drop-off time on a rainy day, it’s terrible. You can’t move. We get people parking on the berms [and] people parking down our private lane. It’s just a mess,” Dean Lorimer said.

Dean and Anne Lorimer. Photo / Supplied

“Yet, we’ve still got the same country bumpkin road that we had seven years ago.”

While the Lorimers acknowledge a certain amount of disruption is expected in a developing suburb, they want Auckland Transport to do it safely and with minimum disruption.

When the road was reduced to one lane earlier this year, the couple said it took them 45 minutes to get to the supermarket down the road.

Upper Harbour local board deputy chairwoman Uzra Casuri Balouch said reducing Scott Rd to one lane earlier this year created “chaos”.

“Ambulances were not able to get in. We have a retirement village and several members of the community with health conditions who need access to an ambulance,” she said.

“A lady had to drive a relative in her car over the footpath to get to the hospital. Now, that is unacceptable.”

Casuri Balouch has been advocating since January that no resource consents be approved until an alternative access is available to the community.

Joshua Carder Drive, where a portion of the road is completed but remains closed. Photo / Calvin Samuel, RNZ

“You cannot hold a whole community hostage.”

Local MP Cameron Brewer said he has received several complaints from parents, commuters and residents about the proposed reduced lanes.

“This is an issue that we want Auckland Transport to show some real leadership on,” he said.

A community meeting was held on Wednesday night by Cameron Civil, the contractor working on the development.

RNZ were told they were not welcome to attend the community meeting.

Cameron Civil presented a couple of options to the community for fewer disruptions.

On Friday, it said the option chosen was for daily lane closures between 7am and 5pm for four weeks starting on Monday.

“On paper, it looks great, but [they] are underestimating the traffic that comes up and down here, completely underestimating,” Anne Lorimer said.

Cameron Civil denied RNZ’s request for comment.

Dean Lorimer said he was frustrated with the options given for Scott Rd as there was a “simple solution” just north of the road.

A couple of minutes’ drive away is Joshua Carder Drive, the planned secondary road off the peninsula. But the road is unfinished and is not open to the public for vehicle access.

It remains cut in half until another private developer builds a roundabout.

Residents recently staged a protest and want local body authorities to open Joshua Carder Drive while Scott Rd is reduced to one lane.

Resident Jason Barclay attended the protest.

“We don’t want to see emergency services hindered. We don’t want to see the community held hostage due to roadworks and developers,” he told RNZ.

“It’s not that we have anything against developers. Developers and development are good, but there is a perfectly good alternative route that can be leveraged temporarily at minimal risk to anybody, to create a single lane in and out of the neighbourhood.”

However, in a statement on its website, Cameron Civil said it was out of its control, as well as Auckland Council and Auckland Transport, because it is private land.

Auckland Transport said its hands are tied when it comes to escalating the opening of the second access route.

“The connection of Joshua Carder Drive and Squadron Drive is still under development, and this is reliant on the developer to implement and complete,” an Auckland Transport spokesperson told RNZ.

“The land is still private, so unfortunately, AT has no ability to hasten the progress.”

RNZ has approached the developer’s lawyer for comment.

However, Casuri Balouch said she has seen on council records the small section needed to link Joshua Carder Drive to Squadron Drive is owned by Auckland Council and received confirmation from officers.

“We should be doing all we can to make this route available as an alternative route for the community while developments are going on at Scott Rd.”

End of the road: The Joshua Carder Drive termination point. Photo / Calvin Samuel, RNZ

Auckland Council community services director Rachel Kelleher told RNZ in a statement on Friday evening that staff were looking into alternatives, including the existing stub road, which she confirmed was located on council-owned land.

“We understand residents’ have concerns over the impacts of planned lane closures on Scott Rd,” Kelleher said.

“We are currently looking into whether there are any temporary alternatives that are viable including the existing stub road, which is located on council-owned land. There are, however, a number of requirements that need to be met when opening roads for public use, which in this instance need further investigation.”

– RNZ